Are You A Hoarder?
In a recent call with a client we found ourselves exploring what it is that keeps us from feeling really alive.
What we discovered is that the vast majority of what gets in our way is our preoccupation with our feelings, our thoughts and our experiences. Instead of being present to what’s new and fresh and right under our noses.
It suddenly occurred to me that most of us fit the description of being mental hoarders — we just wouldn’t call it by that name.
One of the definitions of hoarding is the “persistent difficulty discarding of parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them”.
When one of my aunts died at the age of 92, the remaining members of the family took out 52 large garbage bags of “stuff” that were full of old mail, empty cracker boxes, newspapers, old clothes that just kept piling up but never discarded.
I’ve heard stories that were far worse. You probably have, too.
Can you imagine how many garbage bags of old, moldy, dusty thinking and old memories of irrelevant events we could throw out of our own minds, if we only knew how?
The truth is that we don’t even see all is “baggage” for what it is. We’re so used to having that mental detritus laying about in the cobwebby parts of our minds that we’re convinced it’s all harmless if we just avoid or walk around them.
Trouble is, they aren’t harmless. As they pile up in the nether regions of our minds, it becomes difficult to bring anything new and expansive into our lives. And when those thoughts are keeping us limited and restricted (often on a subconscious level), it’s reflected in the way we live.
Predictable. Small. Not very interesting.
Give yourself some time to reflect on whether an over reliance on your mental props is not only unnecessary, but keeps your life feeling flat. If you notice that’s the case, why not do a thorough mental houseclean?
When we’re willing to see things as they really are, and if we know that we don’t really need to hold onto anything, we can begin to live in the flow of abundance that life is always offering us.
In fact, we’re already being held. When we stop to see whether it’s true or not, it becomes glaringly, and gratefully, obvious.
As Byron Katie says, “the way is clear but only when the mind is clear”.
Nina Lockwood is a Conscious Living coach, writer, artist and creator of Redesign Your Life: an Invitation to Discover Your True Nature and Live Free. Visit her at ninalockwood.com, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram (@ninalockwood.nilo).
